Nexus requirements

Off-site requirements

Author's instructions

- NONE of the content from this mod can be used in packages that require payment to be downloaded or used (for instance, if uploading on the Steam Workshop, the feature to require payment should NOT be used).- In unedited form, this mod may only be redistributed on sites otherthan www.skyrimnexus.com. If you redistribute the same mod on othersites, you MUST inform your users that the original author will notlook for feedback or assist in troubleshooting on any site otherthan www.skyrimnexus.com or forums.bethsoft.com.- If edited, changed or improved upon, this mod may also beredistributed on www.skyrimnexus.com.- IN BOTH OF THE ABOVE CASES, the original author must be creditedfor his work, and the original readme must be included.

File credits

Thanks to:- Bethesda Game Studios: For making the awesome game Skyrim- Kahmul78: For allowing me to look at and use his Locational Damage scripts- Dave Humphrey: For making SkyEdit, which allowed me to make all versionsbefore version 2.00 of the mod.- All contributors to the unofficial elder scrolls pages (uesp.net),for all the information they wrote on armor and damage formulas.- All contributors to the Creation Kit wiki, without which learningthe new Papyrus scripting language would have been hell.- All people who have posted bug reports, suggestions and constructivecriticism on the bethsoft forums and the skyrimnexus comments section.- spiderexpert for making the NMM installer.- Topeira for making a video of my mod.- All people who have posted bug reports, suggestions and constructivecriticism on the bethsoft forums and the skyrimnexus comments section.- spiderexpert for making the NMM installer.

This version of the mod is a lightweight version of the full 4.01 mod which is described in the large description below. It still contains all the features that I feel like are important personally, and this is the version I personally recommend using. It still contains all of the features related to Staggering, Timed Blocking, Timed Warding, and Scripted Improvements to NPC AI. It no longer contains Game Setting changes for armor/health/damage/stamina, no other changes to Stamina costs (except for those related to Timed Blocking), and no changes to movement speed. I have decided to remove these, because I feel like other mods (such as Wildcat + Mortal Enemies) do these better. It no longer contains Locational Damage, since I never personally used it, it felt too game-y to me, wasn't accurate enough, and took a lot of CPU time. It no longer contains Ignore Pain spells/Potions, since I also never used them. There is also a NEW FEATURE: magical Ward Spells (even those added by new mods) can now be used to block physical attacks. Melee attacks hitting your Wards will now be fully recognized by the games as blocked attacks (even increasing your Block skill). Arrows/Bolts will bounce off of your Wards instead of penetrating you, and will deal no damage if fired from in front of you (those hitting you in your back will still hurt).

All of these changes together result in improved efficiency, and improved compatibility with other combat mods. If you do like some of the changes I decided to remove, it's still perfectly fine to keep using the full version 4.01, but Deadly Combat Lite is the version I personally recommend.

Recommended Other Combat ModsI recommend using the following combat mods together with Deadly Combat Lite (this is the setup of combat mods I'll be using myself in my next playthrough):

- Wildcat. I strongly recommend TURNING OFF the Timed Blocking and Injuries features. I don't personally like Injuries because they feel very game-y to me, and I recommend turning off Wildcat's implementation of Timed Blocking because I think it is much too forgiving; it allows you to block for one full second and it still counts as a Timed Block. I use Wildcat primarily as a combat balance mod (changes to damage/stamina).- Mortal Enemies.- TK HitStop.- TK Dodge.- Dual Wield Parrying. Version 2.52 SKSE is the latest version I personally worked on. According to the comments sections, there seem to be both some disadvantages and some advantages to later versions, so I recommend looking into that and seeing which version you like best.

CompatibilityDeadly Combat should be compatible with pretty much every other mod out there, possibly except for those which implement many of the same / similar features. In the optional files, you'll find a compatibility patch for Ordinator. This file was created for version 9.15 of Ordinator, but likely also works with many earlier/later versions (especially if the changelogs for those versions don't mention anything about Blocking perks). This compatibility patch will modify many of the Ordinator Block perks, such that it uses the Timed Blocking feature of Deadly Combat instead of the Timed Blocking feature of Ordinator. Exactly the same changes have been implemented in this patch, as were implemented earlier in the DC + Ordinator compatibility patch for Skyrim Special edition. For more details, see: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9247/?

I recommend loading Ordinator before Deadly Combat, and loading Deadly Combat before the compatibility patch.

Note on UninstallingFor uninstalling the mod, please instructions of the full version in the longer description below. The mod still features a Customization Lesser Power, with an option to disable the mod. This option should be used prior to uninstalling the mod. I know it would have been nicer to have this option available inside the MCM, but this would require me to put in significantly more time and effort. Since I don't expect to be using the feature to disable the mod myself (I like my own mod), and since I primarily create the mod for myself... I felt like being lazy, and not putting in that effort. The Customization Lesser Power still works, it's just a bit less fancy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Everything below here is the long, old description for the ''full'' version 4.01 of the mod.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. Requirements---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A non-pirated copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim updated to version 1.9.32.0.8- Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) version 1.6.16 or higher, available here: http://skse.silverlock.org/- SkyUI 3.0 or higher: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3863This is required for the MCM customization. If you do not want the rest of the SkyUI, downloadSkyUI-Away as well: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/29440/?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4. Mod Description---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The mod makes the combat in Skyrim faster-paced, more responsive andrealistic and more rewarding to skilled players. A list of featuresfollows. First is a list of ''game setting features'', which are changesto numerical game settings.

GAME SETTING FEATURES

(a) WEAKER ARMORReducing the effectiveness of all armor, for both player and NPCs.In unmodded Skyrim, it is possible to reach the maximum damage reduction(which is 80%) with mere Orcish Armor if you have 100 Heavy Armor skilland 100 Smithing skill, pretty much making upgrades useless.This mod changes settings so you need at least Daedric armor to reachthe cap (which is lowered to 75%), still requiring 100 Heavy Armor andSmithing skill and all perks.Clarification: This does not mean that armor which is not improved bySmithing is useless. All armor (improved and unimproved) is reducedin effectiveness by the same amount.All the mentioned values are WITHOUT shields! Shield users will be ableto reach the armor cap slightly (but not much) faster.

( b ) STRONGER BLOCKINGBlocking is more effective. This makes it more important to blockattacks if you want to survive, and attacking targets who are blockingwill be less effective.

( c ) HIGHER DAMAGEIncreasing damage for both player and NPCs.

(d) SHORTER ATTACK RANGETo make combat more risky, the range of all melee attacks and basheshas been reduced to a more realistic level.To win combat, you'll have to get up close and time your attacks and blocks well.

(e) HIGHER STAMINA COSTSBlocking attacks now costs stamina, and power attacking costs morestamina. To compensate for this, stamina regeneration during combathas been increased. Stamina regeneration is further increased when standing stilland not blocking or attacking.

Now follows a list of ''gameplay'' features. These are all included inthe main ''DeadlyCombat.esp'' and they have a more noticeable impact on gameplay.

GAMEPLAY FEATURES

(f) PLAYER NORMAL ATTACKS STAGGERINGThe player's normal attacks make enemies stagger, showing a realisticreaction to getting hit. There are a few conditions for this to happen though:The enemy may not be blocking, may not have a Ward spell active and may not bea ghost.NOTE: Whether this feature can be ''spammed'' or not can be changed through anin-game menu.

(g) NPC NORMAL ATTACKS STAGGERINGThe enemy's normal attacks also make their targets stagger or recoil, if they did not succesfully block the attack. Hits by arrows and magic have a reduced chancefor a ''full stagger'' (where wearing heavy armor further reduces this chancefurther). Instead they often make the player stagger ''lightly'', which meanshe still visibly reacts and the camera shakes, but the player will remain capableof performing actions.NOTE: when the mod loads, the player will automatically gain a new Alteration spellnamed ''Ignore Pain''. This is a short-duration spell which prevents the playerfrom getting staggered by normal attacks during this short duration. This is intendedfor mages to be able to fully channel their Master-level spells without getting interruptedby normal attacks. This spell will NOT prevent staggers from any other sources.NOTE 2: It is now also possible to buy potions with a similar effect to the ''Ignore Pain''spell from any alchemist in skyrim. These potions are bought through a new dialogue optionand do not appear in any levelled lists. This was done to make sure this mod will remaincompatible with all mods touching levelled lists.

(h) TIMED BLOCKINGTimed blocking: if the player has only been blocking for a short time(approximately half a second) at the time when he blocks an opponent'sattack, the block will cost no stamina and he'll take the attacker off guard,staggering or recoiling him. Timed blocks against human-sized NPCs wielding one-handedweapons will also result in 100% of the damage blocked. This rewards skillful play. This timed blocking cannot be executed when blocking with your hands (which is possible if youuse my Dual Wield Parrying mod).On the other hand, if the player is ''turtling'' (=blocking for a long time)and in the end he does block an attack (or if he blocks multiple attacks in arow) each block will cost extra stamina based on the amount of time the playerhas been blocking (up to a certain maximum stamina cost). If the player blocks an attack whilst at a very low Stamina level, the blocktakes too much energy and the attack will stagger the player, even though it wasblocked.NPCs can also execute similar timed blocks.

(i) NORMAL ATTACK STAMINA COSTSThe player's and NPC's normal attacks now cost a small amount of stamina. Receivinghits also takes a small amount of stamina.

(j) REACTIVE NPC AIAfter an NPC has been staggered by a normal attack, arrow or spell, he has variousoptions to react in an attempt to prevent getting hit over and over again by his opponent.These options are: sprinting for a short amount of time, dodge moves in 3 directions (left, right and back), a forwards roll and blocking. If he blocks in such a way, directly after getting staggered, he can take the opponent who expected to have a clear shot by surprise, staggering the opponent for a short amount of time (very much like the player's timed blocking described in feature (h).NPCs will not always perform one of these moves after getting staggered. Whether or not theywill is a chance which increases if they're higher level than their attack, and decreases ifthey're lower level than their attacker.Which move is executed if any depends on what kind of attack they were staggered by (melee,arrow or magic), the armor they're wearing (only light armor wearers can perform dodges androlls), the distance between them and their target (they won't roll forwards if already standingnext to their target), the weapon type they're using (an archer or mage won't move forwardsbecause he wants to stay away) and whether they have a shield or not (in melee they will blockeven without a shield, but against arrows they won't bother trying to block if they don't havea shield).

(k) PROACTIVE NPC AINew AI tricks. NPCs will bash more often (this is based on the situation, NOT on some arbitrarychance) and are better able to follow such bashes up with attacks. When they feel safe they will alsosometimes lower their shield or weapon if they notice you are holding your attack back, only to trickyou into attacking and attempt to perform a timed block against your attack. Additionally, they willalso some times attempt to dodge your power attacks.NPCs with shields equipped will now also sometimes attempt to perform a timed block when they see youattacking. This will not always be succesful because they really react to seeing you attack, and theirreaction speeds will in some cases be too slow.NPCs will now attack the player's mount instead of trying and finding themselves unable to reach theplayer when the player is performing mounted combat. They will now realise the only way to stop youis to kill your horse, and they will very much try to do so.

(l) TIMED WARDINGTimed warding: This works very similar to timed blocking, as in that it only works for a shortamount of timed after casting a Ward spell. A well-timed Ward will reflect the spell cast at you back.It will be fired back to the location of your crosshair, so you can aim where you wish to reflect it.NPCs will also be able to reflect spells with well-timed Wards.This option can be disabled in the in-game menu.

(m) DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVY AND LIGHT ARMORThe weight of each armor piece you are wearing will now have a slightly more noticeable effect onyour movement speed. Because of this, the difference between wearing light or heavy armor will becomemore noticeable in combat.

(n) SLOWER MOVEMENT WHEN ATTACKINGMoving sideways and backwards whilst attacking at the same time will now be slower than in vanilla skyrim,especially for one-handed weapons (the movement speed when swinging two-handed weapons already felt aboutright). Combined with the previous feature, this means that especially heavily armored warriors will nolonger be able to ''skate'' sideways or backwards, avoiding all attacks, whilst happily slaughtering theiropponents themselves. If you wish to properly fight your enemies, you'd better make sure your positioningis good first.In the same spirit, this ''Ranger'' perk in the Archery tree has been made less powerful. In vanilla Skyrim,this perk would allow you to run at 100% movement speed with your bow drawn, allowing you to easily kitealmost all opponents whilst shooting them down. Now it will still allow you to move faster with your bowdrawn, but no longer at 100% speed. (NOTE: this change ONLY touches this one specific perk, and it willcause no incompatibility issues with any other mods at all unless they specifically touch this single perkas well, and even in that case it will not cause any serious issues.)

(o) LOCATIONAL DAMAGEThis mod has a locational damage system which will add small additional effects to combat depending on whichlocation of a body the player or any NPC hit with melee and/or bow attacks.The system for determining locations hit is similar to the one written by Kahmul78 for his Locational Damagemod, but the effects generally have a smaller impact on combat and there are fewer distinguished locations.Melee and Ranged locational damage can each be toggled on or off (default ON) in the in-game menu from thecustomization power, for people who wish to continue using Kahmul78's Locational Damage mod or for those whodon't want any locational damage.

Not every time a specific location is hit will special effects follow. There is a chance on each hit thatsomething will happen depending on the hit location, and this chance depends on the attacker's level, critchance and stamina percentage and the target's stamina percentage. When above 75% of his maximum staminalevel, the player will not receive any special locational damage at all (NPCs still can).

The specific effects for each body part are as follows:- Head = stronger stagger than normally applied from normal attacks, and a short visual effect blurringsight when the player is hit on his head.- Right Arm = 25% chance (if based on the chance described above something should happen) to be disarmed.- Left Arm = injured blocking arm for a short duration, which means that any time the NPC or player blockan attack their block will block the attack but also break, allowing for quick follow-up attacks.- Chest = extra stamina damage, and NPCs also show a different pain reaction from the normal stagger.- Back = 50% chance (if based on the chance described above something should happen) to be knocked down.- Groin = extra stamina damage, and NPCs also show a different pain reaction from the normal stagger.- Legs = if the victim was sprinting or recoiling, he'll be knocked down. Power attacks will also knockdown.

-------------------------------------------------------------------Optional Files-------------------------------------------------------------------- DeadlyCombat_GiantsAIFix.esp fixes an issue some people encounter with Giants,where they show strange AI behaviour (running away instead of attacking). Can beloaded before the other parts of the mod as well, and the fix will still work.- DeadlyCombat_ASIS_Patch.esp improves the interaction between the ASIS AI componentand Deadly Combat AI. Should be loaded AFTER ASIS.esp.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5. Upgrading From A Previous Version---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you have previously used an older version of Deadly Combat, it is alwaysadvised to make a clean save before upgrading. This means following these steps:1) Load your saved game.2) Deactivate the mod's scripts inside the MCM menu.3) Save the game. (it's best to make sure you are not in combat before saving)4) Deactivate the .esp file in the game's launcher and uninstall the mod.5) Load the saved game made in step 3).6) Wait for a few seconds, then save the game again. This will be your clean save.7) Install the new version of the mod and activate it.8) Load your clean save made in step 6) and play!

2. Manual InstallationExtract the downloaded archive in a temporary location. Then move the.esp file(s) you wish to use to your Skyrim installation location Datafolder. Also move the scripts folder to this folder. This location is:

<Steam install folder>/Steam/steamapps/common/skyrim/Data

After installing, make sure that the chosen .esp file(s) is/areenabled by clicking the checkbox you see when you click ''Data Files''after launching the game.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7. Uninstallation---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------First, in-game, before deactivating the mod, use the in-game customization Lesser Power to deactivate the mod's scripts.

1. Nexus Mod Manager UninstallationIf you previously installed the mod using NMM, you can simply let NMM uninstall the mod for you as well.

2. Manual UninstallationRemove all the files which you previously installed during manual installation.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8. Incompatibilities---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No known incompatibilities except for mods which aim to change exactly the same data,like other combat mods.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9. Known Issues/Bugs---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some people run into issues with Giant's AI. There is an optional extra plugin namedDeadlyCombat_GiantsAIFix.esp which fixes this issue.- Reflecting spells through timed Warding will increase your skill in the spell type whichyou reflected.- The damage numbers shown on weapons in your inventory might sometimes change. This is causedby a hidden perk which increases your damage when you hit someone in his back. Your damageis only reevaluated every time the game needs to know your damage, so if the last time thegame ''checked'' your damage it decided that your hit would get bonus damage from attackingfrom behind, it will show the increased damage in your inventory. In combat in game the damagewill always be correct though.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10. F.A.Q. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q: I see no configuration menu in-game!A: Make sure you installed a proper version of SkyUI which includes MCM functionality and installed it correctly.

Q: The mod doesn’t work!A: Make sure you installed SKSE correctly. Make sure you installed all parts of this mod correctly. Make sure the mod’s .esp file is activated in the game’s launcher. Make sure you read the readme and understood how all features are supposed to work.

Q: Is this mod compatible with SkyRe? Or another combat overhaul mod?A: Technically, yes. I cannot promise the gameplay will be well-balanced though.

Q: Do the damage and armor changes apply to modded Weapons and Armor as well?A: Yes, it automatically applies to all armor and weapons in your game. No compatibility issues, no patches required, no problems.

Q: I have a pirated version of Skyrim and...A: Get a legal copy, then we'll talk.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11. Version History---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4.01 (2 August 2013)- Fixed the Base Damage Reduction (Weapons) and Base Damage Reduction (Shields) game setting options in MCMto allow the user to set to non-integer values.- Fixed a big where any game settings changed to a value of ''0'' in MCM were not correctly saved after exiting Skyrim.

4.00 (1 August 2013)- Numerous script optimizations. If any scripts in your game were being unresponsive, this mayimprove your experience slightly. Should greatly reduce papyrus errors if papyrus logging is enabled.May therefore also result in increased stability for those users with papyrus logging on.- MCM menu for customization of various features of the mod.- Fixed a bug where timed-blocking attacks from two-handed weapons only recoiled the player aftera little bit of time instead of instantly (which is the intended behaviour). This resulted in playersbeing able to start an attack but not finish that attack because it would get interrupted by the laterecoil.- Renamed DeadlyCombat_PISE_PATCH to DeadlyCombat_ASIS_PATCH- Removed the following optional .esp files:DeadlyCombat_HardcoreDamage.espDeadlyCombat_NoArmorChanges.espDeadlyCombat_NoBlockChanges.espDeadlyCombat_NoDamageChanges.espDeadlyCombat_NoStaminaChanges.espDeadlyCombat_UnarmedFix.esp

The first 5 of those optional plugins are now obsolete due to the ability to apply their changesinside the MCM menu. The last plugin has been obsolete for a long time already.

3.87 (9 August 2012)- Fixed an issue where scripts would lock up and stop the game from progressing correctly.

3.86 (7 August 2012)- Hopefully fixed some issues randomly showing up in the game's intro scenes in and around Helgen.

3.85 (4 August 2012)- Added a few more attempts to fix random CTDs which some people have been reported (hard to test ifall is fixed now since they were so random to begin with), so please give feedback on whether younotice any improvements! Should also reduce the amount of errors shown in papyrus logs, though some maystill show up (this is inevitable, but harmless).- Slightly increased the duration of staggers produced by timed blocking.

3.84 (30 July 2012)- Improved script stability.

3.83 (18 July 2012)- Fixed a bug where staggers caused by timed blocking would be affected by the stagger spam preventioncooldown. Compared to version 3.82, timed blocking should be much more effective and reliable again.- Removed an unfunctional ''Locational Damage'' button from the ''Other Features'' part of thecustomization menu. The seperate Locational Damage menu which actually works is still there, just removedan additional button which accidentally got left in the mod and didn't do anything.

3.82 (12 July 2012)- Deadly Combat should now complain a bit less in the Papyrus error logs. This might also slightlyincrease performance.

3.81 (10 July 2012)- Fixed a bug where locational damage would also work (usually very inaccurately) against all kinds ofcreatures.

3.80 (8 July 2012)- Made further optimizations in most of the mod's scripts.- Normal attack stagger durations on NPCs are now dependent on their current health percentage. During thelargest part of a fight, stagger durations on NPCs should be slightly shorter than in previous versions,and only when they are nearly dead might they be slightly longer than in previous versions.- Slightly reduced the window of opportunity in which a block counts as a timed block.- Timed blocking an attack with any 2-handed weapon will now result in the blocker recoiling as well.- Staggers which are the result of blocking at very low stamina levels now have a slightly shorter durationthan in previous versions.- Added a locational damage system to the mod, using a very similar location-detection system as used inKahmul78's Locational Damage mod. This feature can be disabled (ranged and melee locational damage can bedisabled individually) in the mod's in-game menu, for users who either don't want any locational damageor those who prefer to continue using Kahmul78's version.

3.70 (25 June 2012)- NPCs will now attack the player's horse if the player is mounted. Before this change, mounted combat wouldoften have NPCs trying to attack the player but being unable to do so because the player was sitting too high,and they would just stand around looking at the player.- Slightly increased all attack distances. They are still much lower than in vanilla (and only a little bithigher than in previous versions), but because of this the following bug should be fixed once and for all:- Fixed a bug where, even when using the appropriate extra patches for this, some NPCs would still sometimesuse unarmed combat instead of their normal weapons.- Reverted back to the system used in 3.51 and before for spreading scripts. This will fix the followingbugs:- Fixed a bug where the player would be accused of using magic in a fistfight.- Fixed a bug where some NPCs would suddenly start attacking the player.

3.60 (23 June 2012)- Weight of worn armor will have a more noticeable effect on movement speed. See feature (m).- Movement speed whilst attacking has been reduced. See feature (n).- Archery perk ''Ranger'' nerfed. See feature (n).- The known issue where damage numbers shown on weapons in your inventory sometimes change shouldshow up less often, but is probably not entirely removed.- Reduced stamina costs for attacking/being attacked for NPCs (player still has same costs).- Reduced all damage taken by bows by the player.- Doubled the duration of the ''Ignore Pain'' spell.- Added Adrenaline Rush potions. See note 2 in feature (g).- Fixed a bug where unused properties in scripts would show up in Papyrus error logs.- NPCs with shields will now sometimes attempt to execute timed blocks when they see their opponentattacking.- Rewrote the system which spreads all the required scripts over all Actors. Now using a system usinghidden cloak spells also commonly used already by many other mods.

3.51 (12 April 2012)- Some changes which should improve the mod's performance in areas with large amounts of NPCs.- Slightly lowered the stamina cost for power attacks. It is still higher than in vanilla skyrim.

3.40 (5 April 2012)- Replaced the customization scroll with a customization Lesser Power. This is more user friendlyfor people who wish to enter the menu multiple times in a row, removing the need to constantlyre-open the inventory.- Added an option to terminate scripts in the customization lesser power. This will allow for betterclean saves when upgrading to later versions in the future.- Added an ''Ignore Pain'' spell which is added to the player when the mod first loads. This is a shortduration Alteration spell which prevents the player from getting staggered by normal attacks for thatshort duration (everything which caused staggers in vanilla Skyrim, like power attacks, will still stagger).This spell is intended for mages to be used right before they cast one of their longer channeling Master spells,to allow them to actually finish their spell without getting staggered by normal attacks.

3.31 (26 March 2012)- Added a version number to the main menu of the customization scroll.- Made several performance improvements.

3.30 (25 March 2012)- Added a patch .esp for the bug where some enemies will sometimes use their fists in combatinstead of their weapons.- Fixed a bug where if the player got staggered whilst drawing a weapon/switching weapons, hecould get stuck in a mode where he can't swing any weapons but can't draw any weapons either.- NPCs will sometimes attempt to dodge the player's power attacks. Currently their reaction timesfor this are pretty slow and you won't notice them succesfully dodging often yet, I'm hoping toimprove their reactions in the future.- Made NPCs slightly less smart with their bashing behaviour.- Increased the bonus damage for attacking from behind from 20% to 33%.- Increased stamina regeneration for both the player and enemies if they are standing still,not attacking and not blocking.

3.21 (19 March 2012)- Small performance increase for people using a saved game from a character which has alreadyused previous versions of the mod.

3.14 (12 March 2012)- Fixed an issue where the player could obtain the script which is supposed to run on NPCs.If you already have this script running on your player character (you will notice by forexample being forced into a blocking animation after getting staggered some times), it willremain in your saved game. Try reverting to an earlier saved game. If this is not possible,tell me and I will try to provide a special version which will work with ''bugged'' savedgames.

3.13 (10 March 2012)- Made some changes to scripts, hopefully resulting in faster execution and fixing an issuesome people reported where they were ''randomly'' getting staggered after combat.

3.12 (7 March 2012)- Implemented further attempts to speed up scripts.

3.11 (6 March 2012)- Hopefully optimized my scripts enough to prevent a delay occuring between hits and staggersfor people with lower-end CPUs.

3.10 (4 March 2012)- Spells will now only be able to stagger when they visually hit a target. Thismeans that a long-duration spell dealing damage over time will only have a chance to stagger on initial impact, and not later when it deals damage again.- Many issues with stamina costs for normal attacks were fixed. Now the correct amountsshould be remove at the correct moments.- The 5 Shield Wall perks will now also reduce the extra stamina cost penalty for blockingtoo long. This is done through script which means that it remains compatible with any modschanging perks.- Stagger chances from arrows and magic are now larger when the distance between attackerand victim is smaller, and vice versa.- When the player strikes an enemy who is performing a timed block, he'll be staggered for a bit longer (previously it was too short to notice)- If the player has the ''Quick Reflexes'' perk, a block will count as a timed block if itwas timed at the time when time started slowing down. This means that the perk will no longerprevent you from timed blocking, and actually makes timed blocking power attacks slightly easier(which makes sense for a perk named ''Quick Reflexes'').- The window of time in which a block counts as a timed block has been reduced very slightly. Onthe other hand, the scripts will realise that you are blocking faster, which means that very closelytimed blocks should no longer bug and should properly count as a timed block.- When the player is staggered by normal attacks, it will be for slightly longer and the playerwill play a proper stagger animation now instead of a recoil animation.- Attacks from behind deal extra damage. This opens up new opportunities in combat to for examplefirst disable the enemy through a stagger and move around the target and strike him in his back forbonus damage.- Added an optional Giant AI fix plugin.

3.01 (23 February 2012)- Optimized most scripts, delay between hits and staggers should now be much smaller orcompletely gone, depending on your setup.- NPCs should no longer sometimes keep in a blocking stance after combat.

3.00 (22 February 2012)- The player will now only ''fully stagger'' (stagger in a way where he is unable toact) when the mod requires it. This means that staggers from causes outside of this mod(like shield bashes) will revert to their vanilla behaviour. This will remove the issuewhere some people were getting ''stagger locked'' even with the stagger spam preventionenabled.- Arrows and spells which hit the shield of a blocking target will no longer stagger.- Continuous spells like breath shouts and flamethrower spells should be less likelyto stagger lock a target.- Staggers on NPCs last for a shorter amount of time- NPCs can utilize various moves after getting staggered in an attempt to prevent futurestaggers. These moves are: sprinting, rolling, dodging sideways or backwards, and blocking.Whether they use one of these moves and which one they use depends on the situation.- NPCs will now get staggered if they're blocking when at VERY low stamina(just like the player).

2.55 (19 February 2012)- Fixed a bug where the player would get stuck in the intro scene when moving tochopping block.- Fixed a bug where helpful spells (like a healing spell from a companion mod) wouldstagger the target.- When the option to prevent stagger spam is on, staggering from spells gets an extrasecond cooldown. This makes constant spells like flames or a vampire's drain less overpowered and makes the ''Impact'' perk in the destruction tree more interesting again (because the cooldown only applies to staggers caused by this mod).

2.50 (18 February 2012)- Hopefully fixed CTD and corrupted saved game issues which people encountered inversion 2.40. STILL BE CAREFUL AND BACK UP YOUR SAVED GAMES AND REPORT ASAP IF YOUENCOUNTER PROBLEMS WITH THIS MOD!- Slightly reduced stamina costs for normal attacks and being hit.- Fixed a bug where hitting enemies with magic or getting hit with magic yourselfwould cost stamina.

2.40 (17 February 2012)- Reworked how the player's attacks stagger enemies on the level of implementation(this change should be unnoticeable for the users). The reason this change wasmade is that it helped to fix almost all of the following bugs and create almostall of the following features.- Fixed a bug where normal attacks would only cost stamina if they also staggered the enemy- Player and NPCs now lose a small amount of stamina if they get it.- NPCs now also have the same stamina cost for attacking which the player has.- NPCs can now stagger each other with normal attacks as well.- Constant magic effects like the ''flames'' spell and the absorb health spellfrom vampires will no longer continuously stagger the player if ''stagger spamming''is disabled.- Bows no longer have a 100% stagger chance.- The bonus from a well-timed block now only applies if the player has a weapon or ashield equipped in at least one hand. This means that users of my Dual Wield Parryingmod will no longer get a timed block bonus if they are fighting with their bare hands.

2.30 (12 February 2012)- Fixes a bug where timed blocking an arrow with the Deflect Arrows perkcould stagger archers.- Melee attacks from enemies against the player now usually recoil the playerinstead of staggering. This still interrupts the players action but is a muchfaster response, allowing the player to play again more quickly instead of beingforced to wait for the stagger to end.- Timed blocking a power attack will now make the enemy recoil instead of stagger,to represent the extra momentum an enemy gets from his power attack. Timed blocksagainst normal attacks will still stagger as before.- The player's normal attacks now cost a (very small) amount of stamina.

2.20 (11 February 2012)- Timed blocking.- ''No stagger spam'' option for player staggering.- Bows and magic have less overpowered staggering effects on player.- Reworked modularity of the mod.- In-game menu for tweaking some features.- Most features in one main file, allowing me to work more efficiently onfuture versions from now on.

2.10 (8 February 2012)- Removed the dependancy on vanilla Skyrim perks for player's normal attacksstaggering enemies. This means that there is no longer a risk ofincompatibilities with mods changing these vanilla perks.- The player now uses the same stagger animations as all other NPCs in the game.This means that the play is unable to continue attacking whilst staggered.

2.00 (8 February 2012)- Fixed a bug in the DeadlyCombat_WeaponsArmor.esp plugin, which caused skillincreases to REDUCE the player's damage instead of increasing it.- Added the ability for normal attacks executed by enemies to stagger the player.

1.40 (11 January 2012)- Slightly reduced the difference in weapon damage between highly skilledplayers/NPCs and characters with low skill. At high skill, the player willhave slightly lower damage than in previous versions of the mod (stillhigher than vanilla), and at lower skill the player will have slightly higherdamage than in previous versions.Lower skilled NPCs will also deal more damage than in previous versions, andhigher skilled NPCs will deal less damage than in previous versions.- Added an optional Hardcore Damage version, with all damage values evenhigher than the older versions.- Increased modularity. Now weapon damage and armor rating effects are combinedin one plugin, and the changes to shields have their own plugin now.

1.30 (9 January 2012)- Reduced the effectiveness of armor slightly more than previous versionsdid.- Now enemy mages who have magic Ward spells up should no longer bestaggered by normal attacks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12. Alternative/Similar Mods---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Something about this mod in particular you dislike, but still lookingfor a combat rebalancer? Try one of these similar, popular mods:

If you feel like locational damage should have a greater impact on combat than it doesin this mod, deactivate the locational damage in this mod using the in-game customizationmenu and try Kahmul78's version here: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12615

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13. Permissions & Disclaimer---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL FILES IN THE DOWNLOAD ARE PROVIDED ''AS IS'' WITHOUT ANY WARRANTYOR GUARANTEE OF ANY KIND. IN NO EVENT CAN THE AUTHOR BE HELD RESPONSIBLEFOR ANY CLAIMS, WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE RELATED TO THE DOWNLOAD.

- In unedited form, this mod may only be redistributed on sites otherthan www.skyrimnexus.com. If you redistribute the same mod on othersites, you MUST inform your users that the original author will notlook for feedback or assist in troubleshooting on any site otherthan www.skyrimnexus.com or forums.bethsoft.com.- If edited, changed or improved upon, this mod may also beredistributed on www.skyrimnexus.com.- IN BOTH OF THE ABOVE CASES, the original author must be creditedfor his work, and the original readme must be included.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14. Contact Information---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The author can be contacted through private messages on the nexussites and on the official bethesda softworks forums, in both casesunder the name ''Borgut1337''. The author will also read the commentssection of his mod on www.skyrimnexus.com regularly.

- Bethesda Game Studios: For making the awesome game Skyrim- Kahmul78: For allowing me to look at and use his Locational Damage scripts- Dave Humphrey: For making SkyEdit, which allowed me to make all versionsbefore version 2.00 of the mod.- All contributors to the unofficial elder scrolls pages (uesp.net),for all the information they wrote on armor and damage formulas.- All contributors to the Creation Kit wiki, without which learningthe new Papyrus scripting language would have been hell.- All people who have posted bug reports, suggestions and constructivecriticism on the bethsoft forums and the skyrimnexus comments section.- spiderexpert for making the NMM installer.- Topeira for making a video of my mod.